New City Catechism, Week 23 (Question 23)

Q: Why must the Redeemer be truly God?

Children’s answer

A: That because of his divine nature his obedience and suffering would be perfect and effective.

Adult/older children’s answer

A: That because of his divine nature his obedience and suffering would be perfect and effective; and also that he would be able to bear the righteous anger of God against sin and yet overcome death.

Video explanation:

Song to assist with memorization:

Relevant Scripture to read:

Acts 2:24

God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

Children’s Activity (printable pdfs)

Younger Kids (pages 6 and 7)

There are no resources for older kids currently available for this lesson.

Special thanks to Del Rey Church for sharing their New City Catechism kid resources with us!

Devotional questions for individual/family/group discussion:

1. What are some biblical examples of people in the Bible that seemed like they might be the Redeemer, but then weren’t?

2. Can you think of a Christian leader that people looked to (and maybe put on a pedestal) but then fell? How does this remind us of the greatness of Jesus?

3. “Jesus was a great man and a great moral teacher but not God” - what’s wrong with this statement?

4. “Jesus never claims to be God” - how would you deal with this statement?

5. How does the fact that Jesus is Himself God help you to grasp the greatness of what happened on the cross?

For an additional “deeper” dive into this question and answer, check out this video from Dr. Michael Allen (which a few of the above questions are based on):